Students from the Department of Health and Human Performance at East Texas A&M University earned national recognition at the annual meeting of the Texas Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine held in Waco, Texas, Feb. 26–27.

Drs. Michael Oldham, Vipa Bernhardt and Sarah Mitchell attended the conference alongside 17 students, including 10 graduate students and seven undergraduate students.

Graduate assistants from the university's ROARHP Lab presented nine research posters at the event. Their work stood out in a competitive field of 259 poster presentations, with two East Texas A&M students earning top honors in the master's category.

• Veronika Kramarenko — 2nd place
• Nikita Strogalev — 3rd place

Students first submitted research abstracts that were evaluated on the study's novelty, methodology, results and conclusions. The highest-scoring submissions advanced to the conference finals, where students presented posters and were judged by panels of faculty and conference leadership.

Undergraduate students also contributed to the university's showing with one poster presentation, a three-student Student Bowl team and three members representing the Phi Pi Delta honor society.

Overall, East Texas A&M finished 7th out of 43 institutions, the university's highest placement at the conference to date.

“This conference gives students a unique opportunity to engage directly with the scientific and professional community in exercise science and sports medicine,” Bernhardt said. “For many students, it's their first experience sharing their work in a scientific setting, which helps them develop confidence, expand their knowledge and see how their classroom learning translates into real-world research and careers.”

Students interested in pursuing careers in exercise science, health and human performance can learn more about programs and research opportunities through East Texas A&M's Department of Health and Human Performance.